Spring
is here so what about your faith? Is it springing into action? Are its buds swelling and opening with new blossoms
of blessing? Are those flowers leading
to a fruitful year?
I
ask myself these questions each spring around Easter. With the promise of the resurrection
fresh in our minds, what is God going to accomplish in our lives? He offers new life and challenges to us
daily. Why not look to Him for the answers.
God’s
pleasure is for us to share our faith with others. Jesus' parting words to us in
Matthew were to go and make disciples. I’m
convinced this is the missing component for Christians today. We complain about
our secular culture, but are we doing anything to transform it?
A
few months ago in our town, a group of well-meaning but misguided believers
visited the public school superintendent’s office making a demand with a letter
from a Christian attorney. That is not the best way to make friends. In fact it
created a hostile atmosphere. Two months
ago, myself and two other pastors visited with the High School principals and apologized
for the previous encounter. This put them at ease; and we then discussed the
idea of moving the traditional high school graduations held on Sunday to later in
the day. The graduations cut into one of
the pastor’s worship services as her worship leader is a music teacher with the
schools. One high school principal mentioned that he would
prefer graduation be on Friday. That is
something I have desired as well. Then we
mentioned that for the past seven years we have enjoyed a Sharefest project to assist the schools. During Sharefest the
Christians of our community go out and do service projects in the community for
anyone who asks. That led to one of the principals
telling us how badly the High School baseball fence needed painting. So on Saturday, May 3rd, we will be
painting that fence. That meeting began
to repair damaged fences and warm an icy relationship between the faith
community and the schools. And it will continue to show the love of Jesus in practical
ways and thus provide future opportunities for us to share our values as people
of faith.
